How to Respond rather than React!
Me: What changes have you seen in yourself?
He: I don't know about the changes, but something unusual happened yesterday.
Me: Go on, I am listening.
He: I was into this business call where we were negotiating hard with a potential client. We had done multiple rounds of conversation, and there is this one guy who just outnumbered me, he was just amazing.
Me: Nice, is that unusual?
He: Well, what I did was unusual. I called and complimented him.
Me: Why did you do that?
He: Links to the value exercise we did, one of my value is humility, and this happened.
Me: How did you feel about that?
He: Good, real good. And you know what, after that call, he said," I am sorry, but this negotiation was to get a number from you so that we can negotiate back with our existing partner. I am just doing my job."
Me: Oh! That must have hurt?
He: Usually yes, but this time I did not react.
Me: What happened?
He: Self-awareness again, I guess. Now I know I used to react to such things in past because they were against my another value of Integrity. I have started Responding rather than Reacting.
Me: And?
He: I have started to appreciate that we all have different values, and that's why we are different.
How self-aware are you?